Central To Survival Israel must retain an unequivocal Jewish majority and a cohesive Jewish society, general says. ROBERT A. SKLAR Editor T studios FINE FURNITURE • ACCESSORIES • GIFTS 6644 Orchard Lake Road just S of Maple West Bloomfield • 248 855.1600 Mon & Thur 10-9 • Tue-Wed-Fri-Sat 10-6 • Sun 11-4 www.sherwoodstudiosinc.com GIFTS ALWAYS 30% OFF... MOST MFRS The Center's Festival Dancers and Janice Charach Epstein Gallery present... a weekend with Judith brin ingber Renowned authority on Ladino-Sephardic Dance An internationally renown 'authofity on Ladino-Sephardic dance, Judith Brin Ingber is also an acclaimed writer, lectures, perfumer and editor. Her work has appeared nationally and in Israel. workshops in the zell dance studio: Friday, July 15 & Saturday, July 16 • 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Center & Festival Dancer Members: $5 • Non-Members or at the door: $8 lecture/demonstration/performance of sephardic music & dance in costume Sunday, July 17 • 2-4 p.m. janice Charach Epstein Gallery • No admission charge Part of the Jewish Costumes of the Ottoman Empire Exhibit for information and reservations, call 248.432.5577 Supported by the Cohen-Woolf Jewish Dance Heritage Fund and the Jewish Life & Learning Department THE CENTER Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit 7/ 7 2005 18 D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building • Eugene & Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Campus 6500 West Maple Road • West Bloomfield 98767( o be a Jewish democratic state, Israel must retain its solid Jewish majority, making dis- engagement from the Palestinian-con- trolled territories a matter of Jewish survival, a famed Israeli security strate- gist told a local Jewish National Fund audience last week. "The essence of Israeli existence is to be Jewish and democratic at the same time so that our children, and the children of our children, will be able to live in a Jewish democrat- ic state," Major General Uzi Dayan told 170 JNF supporters at an informa- tional breakfast on June 28 at the General Dayan Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield. "So Israel should make a historic decision to disengage from the Palestinians, with a territorial compro- mise about borders," he said. The biggest challenge facing the Sharon administration today, he said, is making this historic decision while continuing to effectively fight terrorism and retain the cohesion of Israeli socie- ty. In contrast to disengagement, set- tlers believe. that Jews have a God- given right to all of the biblical Land of Israel and oppose any pullout from the Gaza Strip or the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), Dayan is the nephew of Israeli mili- tary hero Moshe Dayan. His service as national security adviser spanned five prime ministers before he retired three years ago. He's now president of the Zionist Council in Israel and the JNF Israeli youth movement. By year 2020, Dayan explained, 10.5 million people will live between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea; only 45 percent will be Jewish, down from 52 percent today. "We should retain a solid Jewish majority," he cautioned, "only by moral and legal means." "In order to exist," he affirmed, "you have to be strong." When Dayan was 1 year old, his father died fighting for Israel's inde- pendence. Uzi joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1956. He was on the front lines in the 1967 Six-Day War under the command of his famous uncle, the defense minister general. In addition to shaping national secu- rity, Uzi Dayan has advised Israeli prime ministers on strategic relations between Israel and the U.S. He said the most strategic asset of Israel is a cohesive Jewish core. To maximize this asset, he said, Israel must raise a socio- economic flag to fly alongside its national security flag. This second flag would promote public education, job creation and land development. "Education is the equal opportunity for everybody," Dayan said. "It's the basis for everything: infrastructure, the economy, jobs. That's why I'm involved with the JNF Israeli youth movement. Dealing with young people is helping build Israel's future." Job creation continues to lag in the face of the nearly 5-year-old reign of terror waged by Palestinian terrorists against Israel. Unemployment hovers around 9 percent. Dayan called for stepped-up devel- opment, especially within the Negev, to rev up Israel's economy and allow for a less-concentrated population growth. Elaborating on that point, local JNF supporter Hannan Lis told the break- fast crowd, "The land of Israel is owned by the Jewish people and 62 percent of the land mass is the Negev, but only something like 8 percent of Israelis reside there. Almost all reside between Tel Aviv and Haifa. In the past 50-plus years, we have failed when it comes to getting the Negev to become truly part of the State of Israel." "If there's a future for Israel," Lis said, "the future is in the Negev."